PHA-Exchange> 'Where There Is No Psychiatrist'

[Aviva]

From: "Carrie Davis" <cdavis at rcpsych.ac.uk>
> 
> 'Where There Is No Psychiatrist'
> --------------------------------
> 
> Written by Dr Vikram Patel, this highly illustrated manual aims to 
> de-mystify mental health problems and their treatments for general 
> health workers using a simple clinical approach. Dr Patel has worked 
> in Zimbabwe and India for over ten years and felt that the training 
> manuals for community workers which he saw were too influenced by 
> biomedical psychiatry.
> 
> He says, "General terms such as depression and psychoses were often 
> used. These words fail to translate into many languages, and are also 
> laden with stigma and doubt about the skills needed to help manage 
> them". The similarity of the manual's title to the well known 'Where 
> There Is No' series is not coincidental; Dr Patel was heavily in-
> spired by David Werner's classic 'Where There Is No Doctor'.
> 
> Following an introduction to mental health, 'Where There Is No Psy-
> chiatrist' describes over 30 common or important clinical problems 
> associated with mental illness, taking a problem-solving approach to 
> diagnosis and management. It includes coverage of mental health is-
> sues as they arise in specific healthcare contexts, e.g. refugee 
> camps, school health programmes, with AIDS sufferers. This problem 
> and context oriented approach is a key deviation from the traditional 
> approach to writing this type of mental health manual. Final chapters 
> are designed so that readers can personalise the manual for a spe-
> cific location or local language. Also included are quick reference 
> flow-charts, a glossary of technical terms and a guide to the use of 
> psychiatric medicines and simple psychological treatments.
> 
> The first chapter of 'Where There Is No Psychiatrist', the full con-
> tents list and further information can be viewed at:
> http://www.rcpsych.ac.uk/publications/gaskell/75_7.htm
> 
> The manual is available from: 
> Book Sales
> The Royal College of Psychiatrists
> 17 Belgrave Square
> London SW1X 8PG, UK
> Tel: +44-20-7235-2351 ext 146
> Fax: +44-20-7245-1231. 
> 
> It is priced at 8 Pounds Sterling (approx. 12 US dollars). The College 
> has endeavoured to keep the price as low as possible and will not 
> charge any extra for post and packing on overseas surface mail deliv-
> eries. Online ordering is possible from the above link.
>